computing

To celebrate my (belated) 1 year blogoversary, I went back over the year’s worth of posts just for kicks. The biggest trend I saw over time was more blogging about assessment and less blogging about 1:1 and edtech issues. Why the switch?

I think that the technology became so ingrained in what I do in my classroom that it is essentially invisible right in front of me. Of course we use blogs. Of course we have Edmodo, Moodle, and our Wikis. Why do I need to write about them? They are simply a routine part of what I do. I’d much rather be thinking of ways to improve assessment and instruction in my classes, now that the infrastructure is set.

Students, too, have made some comments lately to show they take our nearly paperless setup for granted. We made drawings of pedigrees in biology the other day and students, who have been in my class for over a semester now, didn’t know where to put their papers for me to review. When directed to place their pedigrees into the box, most students said “We have a box?” Some even made sure to do their pedigrees using drawing programs, just because that’s what they are used to.

So when did this shift happen? When did this blog stop being about technology? It stopped being about technology once I started teaching with 1:1 MacBooks and rock-solid wireless network. It stopped being about technology when I didn’t have to have my students leave the room to “go use the computers.” It stopped being about technology when access to the technology was no longer the pressing issue. It feels like some sort of Mazlow’s hierarchy of needs situation here, and I’ve somehow finally fulfilled one of the basic needs so that I can now pay attention to the other levels of need in my classroom.

Some people say they don’t “need” technology in their classroom, but I do. It allows me to let students go off in multiple directions at once as they are pursuing their interests. It gives students multiple ways to show that they have acquired knowledge about our class topics. It gives students ways to communicate and stay organized. Access to technology allows my classroom to be student-centered.

That’s why you haven’t heard much from me lately about what technology we are using in class: it is so routine that it is ordinary and boring to consider as a separate issue. Of course we are using technology, why wouldn’t we?